CHAPTER XII. 



LOSS OE THE QUEEN. 



That the queen of a hive is often lost, and that the ruin 

 of the whole colony soon follows, unless such a loss is 

 seasonably remedied, are facts which ought to be well 

 known to every observing bee-keeper. 



Some queens appear to die of old age or disease, and at 

 a time when there are no worker-eggs, or larvse of a suita- 

 ble age, to enable the bees to supply their loss. It is evi- 

 dent, however, that no very large proportion of the qweens 

 which perish, are lost under such circumstances. Either 

 the bees are aware of the approaching end of their aged 

 mother, and take seasonable precautions to rear a successor; 

 or else she dies very suddenly, so as to leave behind her, 

 'brood of a suitable age. It is seldom that a queen in a hive 

 that is strong in numbers and stores, dies either at a period 

 of the year when there is no brood from which another can 

 be reared, or when there are no drones to impregnate the 

 one reared in her place. In speaking of the age of bees, 

 it has already been stated that queens commonly die in their 

 fourth year, while none of the workers live to be a year 

 old. Not only is the queen much longer lived than the 

 other bees, but she seems to be possessed of greater tenaci- 

 ty of life, so that when any disease overtakes the colony, 

 she is usually among the last to perish, By a most admira- 

 ble provision, their death ordinarily takes place under cir- 



